The present invention relates generally to medical products in the form of chemical agents that increase blood flow. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel prophylactic system with a vasodilator-containing film, which system is useful to treat impotency and other diseases or physical conditions where treatment requirements include increased blood flow.
It is known that impotency occurs in a substantial portion of the male population. Impotency takes two forms, physiological and psychological. A male who has psychological impotency is physically capable of having an erection, but unable to achieve the same for psychological reasons.
There have been a number of conventional proposals for diagnosing the particular form of impotency and treating the psychological form. In connection with such treatments, U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,991 to Boeck describes a condom with an interior surface coated with a transdermal nitroglycerin (NTG) coating, a known vasoactive dilator. The idea is for a male to stimulate an erection in his penis by placing the NTG-coated condom over it.
There are several drawbacks to the condom proposed by Boeck. First, that condom will not stimulate an erection in a number of males with psychological impotency because the construction of the condom requires that the male user's penis be sufficiently erect to use it. In other words, the Boeck proposal surprisingly requires that the condom user has the very capability the user lacks, and for which the user is seeking treatment. A substantial percentage of males with psychological impotency cannot achieve the requisite degree of penile erection to use the Boeck condom.
A further, essential drawback with Boeck is that it proposes coating the interior surface of the condom with conventional transdermal NTG adhesive coating or patch. There is no clinical evidence that such convention transdermal NTG adhesive coatings are effective to release transdermally an effective amount of NTG into the user's blood.
Other conventional proposals involve topically applying NTG-containing cream directly to the penis before intercourse. The essential drawback with such proposals is that the NTG present on the user's penis is transmitted to the user's sexual partner, and that NTG can have deleterious health effects on the user's sexual partner.
With respect to other diseases or physical conditions where treatment requirements include increased blood flow, conventional proposals have been lacking in showing devices or methods to increase blood flow noninvasively and effectively. One example of such diseases and conditions is known as Raynaud's syndrome which involves vasoconstriction of blood vessels in the fingers and toes. The result is to cause affected appendages to become cold, dry, painful, and unattractive in appearance. Another example of such diseases and conditions is frostbite.
Until now, there has been no effective proposal to promote blood flow to treat psychological impotency and such other diseases and conditions.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a device and treatment method that overcomes the drawbacks of prior-art proposals.
Yet another object is to provide such device and method that is usable by male users who lack the ability of achieving enough of a penile erection to use a condom.
Another object is to provide such device and method that is usable to treat Raynaud's syndrome.
Yet another object is to provide such device and method that is usable to treat frostbite.
Another important object of the invention is to provide such device and method that promotes penile erection in males but also provides other health advantages.
Still another object is to provide such device and method that encourages the use of condoms among males who have psychological impotency as a way of diminishing the occurrence of unwanted pregnancies and/or sexually transmitted diseases in the males' sexual partners.
Another object is to provide such device and method that tends to prevent heart attacks during sexual intercourse in males who have both psychological impotency and atherosclerotic coronary vascular disease.
It is also an object of the invention to provide such device and method that can be cost-effectively manufactured and practiced, respectively.
In brief summary, one aspect of the invention includes a prophylactic system with a vasodilator-containing film for use on a patient's, or user's, body. The prophylactic system includes a first expanse of expandable support material constructed for attachment to a desired section of such a patient's body. A vasodilator-containing film is formed over substantially the entire inner surface of the support material. The first expanse of may be formed as one of the group consisting of a patch, strip, tape, sheath, or condom. In a first preferred embodiment, the first expanse is formed as a sheath and is constructed for enclosing a protuberant section of the patient's body such as an appendage, penis, finger, toe, or ear.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments.